"Why?" she started. "Why do I have to hear it from other person?"
He answered with his back facing her. "Why? Will you hear me when I say it to you?"
"I…" Ella struggled. The emotions were too much to contain. She couldn't believe that right here in front of her eyes, is Kanata just in another era's name and dress. But Kanata was never transparent with his feelings, deeper feelings. It's just too foreign for her to see that he is confessing her feelings to a girl, to someone like her. Even though this is just a role play of someone else's story, the truth in his eyes seemed to catch her off guard. She half-wished to be Ella and this person is not Phillip, but Kanata.
Then she wandered why she kept on thinking about it right now when she ought to be rolling with her role as Ella; no dwelling of personal feelings as of the moment. But what should she say? What should Ella say? She won't answer also.
"You won't, right? I knew you won't."
Suddenly his words brought her back to reality.
She tried opening her mouth to answer but she knew she lost the battle when she saw his eyes already soulless. He wouldn't want to hear any words from her anymore. Then he walked out on her until he disappeared in sight.
"Santa! This movie is way over-dramatic! Can we try something else?" Aya reacted. Probably, she wanted something adventurous and exciting. "And shouldn't we be searching for them again instead of relaxing for a moment?"
"We did. We've seen Kanata asleep with Ruu-kun. And Hanakomachi is in the kitchen, you've seen here, also asleep. Miyu and Nanami are the ones missing but they'll be back soon. They can't be lost. Miyu knew the place. Duh!" Santa explained.
"Anyway, the movie? Well, that's the only dramatic part you know. Wait 'til you see how thrilling it gets." Reaching for the remote control, he clicked pause and zoomed in the picture of the leading man in his state of tantrum, sitting in one corner of the palace's square fountain.
"Now, look here," he continued. "See this fountain in the background?"
Aya, in quick anticipation of what was coming, nodded unconsciously in reply. Her eyes were fixed with the picture Santa was showing her. She suddenly felt something really exciting would be coming.
"What object or form, for that matter, could you make out of the silhouette?" It doubtlessly puzzled her.
At first glance, it looked like a shapeless, boring structure – no form, except for its wide circular bottom and thinner top like a perfect body of slender woman cut just above the waist.
The keen scriptwriter examined the figure and thoughtlessly escaped the first thing that came out of her mind.
"It's a liter bottle of Coke?" she arched her eyebrow in confusion.
Hearing like it was a serious answer, Santa disapproved.
"Naaaah… it's not. Though that one was close enough, there's still a little difference. The Coke bottle is a little wavy on the 'waist' part. Notice, this part is a little edgy."
"Yes, you're right."
Holding her chin with her thumb and index finger, she helplessly agreed and asked him in impatience, "So what it is then?"
"It looks like a bottle of lotion."
"A lotion bottle?" she suddenly recalled the love potion they bought yesterday. Acting as if it didn't interest her, she continued, "How important is that?"
"Well, it is important in this movie while it is also important to ancient tales. It's been told in the earliest times that this was a figure of ancient god of destiny. In the prehistoric period, individuals who wanted to find their true love would bow down to this figure and asked. It's also been an accidental practice to hold the figure after praying. They say that this touching, like magic, would search for the one and bond them in a series of fate that would lead them towards each other, like destiny."
Aya was listening intently to him that she didn't hint him any reaction, so he continued, "See here, after this tantrum-throwing seen of the leading man, he would toss something in the fountain, and the search starts there."
"Okay, let's see what you are saying about. Click the play button now."
With all the sadness in his heart, Phillip went to the far end of the palace where a square artificial fountain sits. He thought about how he lied to her, about the so-called prince Ella danced with at the ball, and most importantly, about his feelings to her.
Now she would be marrying him, and he couldn't handle that. But it would be selfish of him. She should be with someone she loves, and it's not him.
If only he could turn back time and change everything. If only he was brave enough to say the truth to her. But he couldn't. Everything is too late now. And even if he could, she doesn't love him back. It would still be useless.
He stared at the beautiful fountain at his back. It was beautiful with all the dancing water, shooting up and then collapsing to the same water.
"They say, this fountain makes your wishes come true," he looked at the bottom of the fountain to see a hundred silver coins. "Maybe many wishes had been granted by this fountain, but my wish couldn't be true now, except for wishing her her happiness."
He reached for his pocket to search for any penny, but to his dismay. He looked for anything silver with him. He found nothing, but his golden half-heart necklace.
"Father gave this necklace to me. He said it's my way to find happiness by finding the other half of the heart. But, father, I found happiness. I found her, but it's not… we're not meant to be," he sadly realized.
He untagged the necklace from his neck and tossed it to the fountain. It flew towards the concrete structure sitting in the center of the fountain, surrounded by the water and a hundred silver coins, then it hit the bottom. Lifeless.
Then he started to walk away.
Ella, on the other hand, wanted to follow him and give him comfort. But she knew she had to let him be for now. He was hurt. So, she went her own way to find herself comfort, too. She walked out of the palace and found a garden. She kept walking through the garden and let her feet lead the way. When she found a beautiful artificial water structure, she stayed there and cried.
She was having a dilemma on her own – whether to follow her heart or her mind while she is totally aware that she's in another story; she's in someone else's life, but she's still in her own Miyu's mind. She ought to be realizing the story until its happily-ever-after. In that way, she can go back to where she should be.
But how?
How would this fairytale come to its end? Did Ella marry the prince? What would happen to Phillip? But Prince Eric has another love, hasn't he? The princess from another kingdom?
"Oh my, this is too much!" she told herself and broke down to another cry, holding her palms up to her face.
What if she will make the wrong choice and the story goes wrong?
But she hasn't got all day to know which choice is wrong or not, has she? And whether she will take the wrong one, the story will still come to an end. Only, not the ideal end. The only problem now is what she should take.
She looked up the sky and said, "Oh God, guide me." Holding her right hand on top of her chest, she unintentionally touched the necklace she had kept since she knew it existed. It had a pendant with a half-heart shape and only God knows where the other half is.
She gazed at it for a moment and thought about its other half. Like her, this necklace was also searching for the other piece to complete its full shape; the perfect decision to suit her over complicated situation.
Ella thought how this necklace would find its missing part when she has kept it hidden for years now. And her, how would she know what to choose when she doesn't know which is right from wrong? The only choice she thought would be right is to let go of herself by choosing what her heart says.
"Mom says 'Follow your heart' no matter what," Miyu's mind reminded herself.
Let go.
It was then she saw the leaning structure beside her – the castle's lucky charm, the wishing fountain. She stared at the beautiful and lively structure before her; the water flowing out from the top of the concrete and artistically cascading down at the receiving bottom where she saw a hundred silver coins glowing yet immobile on the floor. Although some of its radiance died out of age and corrosion, many of it still shone out its youthfulness.
"Wow! Is this some kind of a wishing well?" she exclaimed. Grabbing for anything she could throw into the fountain just for one wish. When she found nothing, she felt sad. She reached for something near her chest and stopped mid-air because she knew she found something. Thinking it would be wasted, she convinced herself, "Naah… it couldn't be a well; it's a fountain!"
"It's a wishing fountain, idiot!" a voice from the other side of the fountain startled her.
She peeked to see who interrupted and answered her questions.
"Phillip! I didn't notice you back there."
"I was just about to walk out when I heard you here," he answered then continued, without looking at her, "Have you been crying?"
She hesitated at first to answer truthfully, but knowing him, he should have guessed her answer anyway. So she decided to tell no lie, "uhm… I would be lying if I tell you no. You haven't even glance at me, but you have assumed I was. You knew me too well, Phillip."
"I've known you all my life, Ella."
"Yea, long enough to predict me," she smiled at the thought of that. It's just too sweet to know that someone could tell what you will be doing even if you haven't mentioned it or have done it yet.
"Anyway, what have you been doing here?" she asked.
"Well, I always come here to think or to rest awhile from a hard day. One time, I came here just to talk to the fountain," he can't help laughing at the stupidest thing he did.
And her stupid mind actually caught that, "Did it answer you?"
His intelligent mind could have laughed heartily at that but he pretended to ride on it, "Well, it didn't…. yet. But I'm still waiting though. I promised him I'll wait for the answer."
"But it did promise you it will answer you anyway, didn't it?" she was eager to know. Maybe this thing would also answer her if she would just ask it.
"Well, I didn't know. I walked away before it could promise, I guess."
"You know, you shouldn't have! I might as well prove your convictions, Phillip. Shall we?" Ella, with all enthusiasm, has laid out a little plan in her mind. Untangling the necklace from her neck, she folded it in her palms.
"Hey, what are you going to do?" he asked, a little panicky. Knowing her, she got unpredictable mind sometimes that could lead him in danger.
"Watch…" she folded her hands and made a wish, "…and learn," she said with finality and tossed her half-heart shaped necklace to which Phillip didn't get a clear glimpse of.
Ignoring that one little detail, he asked her instead, "What did you wish for?"
The poor little silver necklace touched the structure at the center of the fountain and then fell into the floor of the fountain.
"I wish for it to answer your question today," she blindly answered.
He couldn't believe what she just answered. She shouldn't have done it. With panic in his eyes, he asked, "Do you even know what I asked him?"
"No, but it isn't important, right? What's important is it will answer you. Maybe today, the long wait is over. Phillip, I want to see you happy."
"But Ella, I asked that thing to find my happiness. That was some stupid…"
His words were interrupted by a sudden eye-hurting light. They both turned to where the light is, shielding their eyes with their hands, and saw two glowing necklaces floating towards them. Opening their palms, both necklaces rested.
They stared at each other for a while until the realization hit them.
"So it's you, Ella. It's you."
"It's me?" she paused, then spoke again, "I didn't I could find the other half of this thing."
"I didn't know you had its other half."
"I did. I just kept it."
"Why?"
"'Cause I thought I would find it on my own. I never expected it would search for itself."
"Well, its search is over. My search is over." Phillip finally told himself.
"I think, mine, too," she stared at his eyes and smiled.
He knew what she meant. He was so happy. When he suddenly realized something, his happiness faded. "But wait, I thought you were in love with Prince Eric? Oh Ella, you should be married to him."
"I fell in love with the prince who danced with me at the ball, while the true prince was in love with another princess from another kingdom to whom he'll get married to."
"Oh, Santa! The film was so great!" Aya exclaimed her heart out while she was happy strangling a poor Santa to death.
"Hey! Stop it! I know it's great. You don't have to kill me!" Santa exclaimed to stop her. The girl is too full of happiness herself. "Anyway, we have to…"
His words were cut off when a voice from the back interrupted them.
"Oh, guys. Have you seen them yet?" Nanami asked after coming out from the woods.
"Yeah, we've found them." Santa answered and then continued, "Where's Miyu? I thought you two were together."
"Yeah, we were. But she kind of fell asleep after clumsily coming across a little thing that unbelievably glowed out a blinding light. I thought she was gone for a moment there but then she just fell asleep. I brought her back to her room already. I can't believe how heavy that slim girl is," the redhead explained nonchalantly.
"What do you mean a thing and a blinding light?" Santa inquired. He suddenly realized something but couldn't totally point it out.
"I don't know. I didn't care to look at it. Miyu was hugging it the whole time I carried her to her room. It was a little doll, I think. And yeah! I remembered something. She had this half-heart shaped necklace glowing all the time. It was so weird. Every time I took away the doll from Miyu, but the glow would be gone; so I just put it back."
"What happened after that?" Santa asked again.
"So I came here to ask if you have found Kanata and Christine. Now have you?"
"Yeah, Christine's in the kitchen and Kanata's in Ruu-kun's room." Nanami answered.
"Nanami, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Santa suddenly asked Nanami, holding an eye-to-eye contact to her.
"No, Santa. Your mind works kinda weird so I don't think we're thinking the s…ame." Nanami answered wryly but realized something in the middle of her statement. "Yeah, Santa-kun! I think I understood now!"
"And what are you two thinking about?" Nanami was curious.
"Do you mean the movie we saw earlier might be what happened to them? They were time-traveling while asleep? And that lotion bottle you were talking about!" Aya suddenly tried to figure it out. She turned to Nanami and tried to explain, "Oh Nanami! Do you remember the love potion that looked like a lotion bottle?"
"Of course, I do. That's the whole point of being here and having a sleepover, right? What about that?"
"Santa explained to me the power of the potion. It is true, Nanami. It has an ancient history."
"Wait," Santa interrupted. "What do you mean, love potion and lotion bottle? You mean, you have the love potion lotion bottle?"
"Yes," both girls answered. Aya continued to confess, "We wanted to find out Miyu and Kanata's feelings for each other. The love potion might be a better way for them to confess to each other without them knowing. Since the lady who sold it said, it was a way to unite two souls who are meant for each other."
Nanami added, "We thought if they're meant for each other, the potion might figure it out for us." She paused and continued, "The problem was that it occurred two pairs of couples touched the potion at the same time."
"So that's why, Aya, there were also two couples in the film - Ella and Phillip, and Eric and the pink-haired princess from another kingdom."
"Yeah, I remembered."
"You know, we better check them out."
The three of them walked in to night and inside the temple to find the three other friends. Nanami was still guessing what these two up to. What was the film they've watched? But she found it amusing to see the two weird friends getting more acquainted to each other that they found themselves agreeing to their own sense of weirdness.
They first checked out Miyu who was still asleep in her room, and as what Nanami said, hugging a little doll. But when they checked on Ruu-kun's room, Kanata wasn't there. They only saw Ruu-kun in his deep slumber and hugging a little boy doll in his arms.
They thought that maybe he went to the kitchen. So they walked their way to the kitchen.
Contrary to what they thought, Christine wasn't there. But that wasn't their concern for now. They needed to see Kanata and his whereabouts.
Walking down the dark temple hallways at night seemed to be creepy. The three persons were strolling and clinging to each other. Suddenly, slowly heading towards Miyu's room, they heard footsteps before them. They hid themselves behind a corner of the hallway while trying hard to take a peek at Miyu's door.
Then they saw Kanata.
"Miyu?" he inquired, standing at the front door of Miyu's room.
Awaken by his soft call, Miyu answered, "Kanata?"
"Yeah, it's me," he paused, deciding whether to continue speaking or retreat himself. He tried to open his mouth but he was interrupted by her question.
"Why are you here?"
"Uhm, can I come in?"
There was a minute span of time before she answered, "Yeah, sure… Just take a little distance away from me. What do you want?"
"Come on, I'm just here for some talk."
"Talk?" Miyu echoed. "Is really tbat you, Kanata?"
"You could take a closer look."
"I'd rather not. So what's on your mind?" she started the talk, ignoring the importance of the moment.
"Don't ask questions like that, Miyu. You know it does have a variety of answers you don't really want to know."
"You sound so deep, Kanata. Are you alright?" she asked.
"There's been this dream, Miyu."
"A nightmare?"
"Not that it's a nightmare. On the contrary, it's a beautiful dream."
"So?" Miyu suddenly felt comfortable with their conversation so she brought herself a little closer to him to hear his words clearly.
"It's kinda childish to hear though…."
"No, it's alright. I wanna hear it out, Kanata." She stared at his eyes, silently pleading him to share.
"All right. I dreamed I was in this old-fashioned kingdom era. I was this boy and you were that girl. And we were the best of friends which finally ended to be the best of…" suddenly, he felt hesitation with what he was saying. He was afraid she might get awkward after knowing about his stupidity.
"…the best of what?" she repeated.
He sighed exasperatedly. How foolish it was to share to her. "Uh, never mind. It's so stupid." He started to stand up and start walking out the room due to embarrassment.
"You know, I had this dream, too. I was like Cinderella and you were a prince and a not-prince. I should have thought to choose the prince to be my groom but I choose the other you, the one whom I saw the true Kanata."
Her words stopped him mid-air. He was about to reach the door when her words hit him a realization.
"Why?" he asked. "Why did you choose the other one?"
"The dream said, I love him. That's all."
"Have it crossed your mind that maybe that dream would, in any way, come to reality, Miyu?"
"What do you mean, Kanata?" she looked at him, only to see his back still facing her. He sighed then smiled, telling himself. It really is the real Miyu,
"Miyu… never mind. That was just a foolish question to ask. I better be going then," he retreated. "Good night, Mi-"
"Kanata?" she asked before he could leave the room.
"What?" Kanata turned around and faced her.
"That dream revealed to me one thing, and I wish to ask you something about it."
"What did it reveal to you?"
"It revealed to me the one I'm supposed to be with for the rest of my life," she said wholeheartedly. She didn't wait for him to react, so she continued asking, "Did it reveal to you the same thing?"
She looked up to meet his brown eyes, illuminating despite the little light from the moon outside. He smiled at her and slowly, walked towards her.
He knew she did not notice something was glowing near her bosom, but he knew what it was.
He stepped closer to her, never leaving her eyes, and when he reached her, Kanata knelt before her and took out a glowing necklace from his pocket.
"It revealed to me…" he paused.
He held her necklace clinging on her neck. "…you."
And the two half hearts finally became one.
-END-
A/N: Dear Readers, I'm very very very sorry for the late update of this story. I have read many reviews from you, waiting for the next chapter. So here it is. As promised, I didn't abandon this story. It just took me a while before finishing. Thank you so much for your reviews, for waiting, for dropping me an e-mail and requesting me to finish this. Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this last chapter.